Transformers: Drabbles & Ficlets
by lightningmouse
Summary: A series of drabbles and ficlets focusing on various characters & situations of the many TF universes Movieverse, G1, Beast Wars, TF: Animated, etc. New: Days Long Past, an Octane future!drabble set in the With All Thy Mercies storyline by ajremix.
1. Apologize

**Timbaland, Apologize  
**Jazz/Barricade - Movieverse

The sounds of battle rage around them as they stare at each other, merely a few yards apart - a lull in the battle made of two mechs, weapons pointed at each other in sure kill shots. But the chasm of their beliefs and allegiances gapes between them and no matter how close they are, in that moment, the distance separating them feels insurmountable.


	2. Feeling Good

**Nina Simone, Feeling Good  
**Hound - Movieverse

The Jeep drove on the back country road outlining the edge of the sea, sometimes losing any trace of road at all before finding the remnants of it once more, engine roaring with glee with each new hill and curve.

Every new arrival to the planet discovered a file on the local network, left for them by one no longer there to greet them. Often, they wondered if he'd known, somehow, that he wouldn't be there to show them this new world himself. They never spoke aloud of it, but each time someone else arrived, then wandered out of their new base with a distracted expression, the others stepped aside.

The strains of music drifted in the wind as Hound sped on, trying to see as much as possible during his first outing on Earth, leaving a trail of exultant, triumphant notes in his wake.

_Oh freedom is mine  
And I know how I feel  
It's a new dawn  
It's a new day  
It's a new life  
For me  
And I'm feeling good_


	3. Rock me Amadeus

**Falco, Rock me Amadeus  
**Rattrap - Beast Wars

The demolitions expert sits back on his haunches, a blissful expression gleaming in his optics at the thought of the impending chaos about to unfold.

"Pretty lights," he croons to himself softly in the darkness of the maintenance shaft, entirely too amused at his own silliness. One has to find the bright moments where one can, these days. The smile curving on his face is equal parts serenity and unabashed defiance - that of one staring grimness and death in the face, determined to stay true to the memory of happier days.


	4. Serenity

**Godsmack, Serenity  
**Rampage - Beast Wars

Energon drips from his claws and a low, unsteady chuckle escapes him. He's been here before and will be here again, he knows. But as the calm sweeps across him, the death of the mech at his feet seeping through his circuits, Rampage feels a sweet, blessed moment of respite.

For a moment, time is irrelevant.


	5. Silent All These Years

**Tori Amos, Silent all these years  
**Perceptor/ ? - Movieverse

Perceptor stares at the walls of his well- gilded cage, ignoring the instruments and gauges wailing at him in strident, demanding warnings. The faction logos seared against his will in his plates gleam under the lights of the laboratory, screaming shades of raging purple. They gave him the laboratory of his dreams after ripping away his soul, and think they have him broken and tame. Voices resonate in the corridors, the highest ranking of all Decepticons marching down towards him for yet another inspection and Perceptor hums to himself idly as he puts the finishing touches on the first weapon he created upon arriving here, before setting it aside for the right time.

He's waited long enough to join his bonded in the Matrix, and now is finally the day. Soon, everything will be light and the pain will be gone and the only thing left to do will be to go home.


	6. Optimus Prime, 30 minutes

**Tatu, 30 minutes  
**Optimus Prime - Movieverse

It seems only mere moments ago, all was well. Endless boring meetings, each in succession, about things as mundane as a new commemorative plaque to be set in the High Council hallway, countless orders to be signed and dispatched in order to ensure the continued well-being of the thriving people of Cybertron.

These once cumbersome administrative details which he'd so loathed are now precious and longed for, some still present in the room, ghostly reminders of what was and should be. He is now left with is a strange, numbing hollowness, all that is left of the morning's duties a few data pads, scattered on the floor along with the gleaming limbs of one of his many assistants. The first one to die for him, taking a blow meant to kill in his stead. Those still living all turn to look towards him now, optics filled with desperation and sorrow.

The city is falling down to pieces around him and as he rallies his troops, fire raining down upon them from the skies above, Optimus sets aside his wishes for time to be turned back in order to face the onslaught of destruction being led towards them by his own brother.


	7. Optimus Prime, The Longest Day

**Full Blown Rose, The Longest Day  
**Optimus Prime - Movieverse

Their numbers were reduced to a mere ghost of what they had once been. They who had been a great and mighty people were now fallen, the few left behind haunted by the toll they had paid for their survival, surrounded by fire and death, serenaded by the whimpers of an ashen, dying world. Kneeling in the remnants of a husked building, staring down at scarred, wounded hands, he killed the sound of his audios. Fruitlessly seeking solace in silence yet again.

A transmission blossomed through the stillness surrounding him, whispered words by-passing every block in place to gently curl within his very core.

"The Cube has been found."

Raising his head, Optimus looked to the stars, disbelief warring with tenuous, fragile hope.


	8. Optimus Prime, Versions of Violence

**Alanis Morissette, Versions of Violence  
**Optimus Prime, Megatron - Movieverse

Energon drips steadily from the wounds both combatants bear, and though grief still lingers, another emotion flows sure and steady in the undercurrents of his spark. Everything they once had, his brother threw away in favor of senseless destruction and death. So many have fallen since, great and small, and he finds himself staring at his brother as though he might be a stranger, a wild thing living outside the reality of the universe. This world is warmth and light like he's never seen before, and Optimus finds himself remembering the very moment war was declared on Cybertron, and the never-ending yearning to protect and preserve he felt then, sharpened then by the chaos surrounding them and honed to the finest of edges ever since.

This same feeling inhabits him now for this bright new world they've found. The rage and thirst for chaos he sees in the other's very core is no match for the calm flowing through his own, and audios cranked to their utmost, Optimus smiles faintly at the rhythmic padding of sneakers on cement, finally finding the heartbeat of another world within the sound of Sam's running footfalls as he strives to keep the All Spark out of Megatron's reach. He narrows his focus and settled on another beat, rapid and erratic, yet undeniably alive, before allowing himself to look into his brother's optics once more.

"One shall stand, one shall fall." The words resonate through his frame and Megatron never even comes close to understand the meaning of those words as he charges for Optimus once more, ever seeking to main, harm, destroy. Optimus serenely accepts the whirling rush of claws and madness, a certainty beyond ken settling within. Cybertron will die today, its last hope erased when the Cube is destroyed. But Earth will live on.

When all is said and done, there is a balance in all things.


	9. Optimus Prime, I grieve

**Peter Gabriel, I grieve  
**Sam, Optimus Prime - Movieverse

The worst of it is over now, or so he tells himself. He's sitting on the hood of a car, the smell of burnt plastics and chemicals redolent in the air and the creak of the metal underneath him draws his attention. He looks down, resting his hand on a spider-webbing of cracks that line what little paint remains on the car's hood, the once pristine yellow shade turned to shades of burnt orange and ash black. This, he knows, could so very easily have been his friend.

He turns to look over slowly, his breathing steady and shallow and sees Bumblebee still reclining on the tow truck, Mikaela at this side while Ratchet rapidly but gently seals leak after leak, burnt and broken edges slowly filed away to reveal bright, sharp metal underneath.

The remains of Jazz's body, glimmers of ghostly silver surrounding a deathly quiet darkness are still held in their leader's arms and Optimus' expression is so removed, so far away that Sam wonders if he's lost as well. They've lost so much, Sam thinks, never noticing the army medic picking up one of his hands, then the other, before starting to tend to him. They've lost so much, to give everything in return, and Sam's heart aches for them with every beat it takes.

After a while of staring though, he realizes that Optimus is smiling, ever so faintly. It is a worn and tired smile, but through sorrow it still somehow comes across, despite the differences of both species. A sound reaches him across the distance separating them, the larger mech tapping out a light, gentle rhythm on the husk of his comrade in a quiet and oddly tender funeral dirge.

Sam's breathing settles along the motion, and when Optimus meets his eyes, he finally realizes what rhythm the mech is following.


	10. Seekers, Build You Up

**Nelly Furtado, Build you up  
**Skywarp - G1

Skywarp watches from the sidelines and remains still. Every time it's the same and he wonders when things will change. If they even can. The striking of metal against metal resonates through the room, a shriek of pain overwhelmed by a bellow of rage as Starscream falls once more under Megatron's ire.

Maybe one day, Skywarp hopes, he'll be able to _ask_ his wingmates to leave this place, with him. He takes a step back, falling deeper in the shadows, keeping to his carefully cultivated act of witlessness. One day, he hopes he'll be strong enough. Ready enough.

But not today.


	11. Seekers, Precious Things

**Tori Amos, Precious Things  
**Starscream - G1

It took millennia for him to finally reach this place, to finally stand proudly by Megatron's side. Air commander of the Decepticon forces, second in command next to the High Lord himself. All that he'd ever yearned for. An impossible dream, he'd been told, over and over again.

It had meant everything to him, once. Now, only ashes remain and as Starscream peels away from his startled trinemates, ignoring the bellows of anger from a leader who failed to understand the mechanics of loyalty, the soft voice whispering comfortingly to him carries him up higher than anything else ever has. Trite, sappy and weak words, he once would have said. Until he realized that the owner of the voice meant them for him, as well.

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."


	12. Seekers, Try

**Nelly Furtado, Try  
**Starscream, Thundercracker, Skypwarp - G1

Everything seems surreal to Starscream as he stares at the captives being brought in by a group of clearly bemused Autobots who apparently aren't used to being eagerly _dragged_ forward by those caught in battle. Merely a few days ago he'd have sneered at the weak-willed fools and yelled down insults from the skies. He still insults them, really - changing factions doesn't mean a personality transplant as far as he's concerned, but the sight of two beaming jets hopping up and down as they drag their captors forward, each trying to get his attention, steals everything he might have said away.

"Hey, TC! Lookit that, he's speechless!" Skywarp crows in glee, even as he tries for another hop, ignoring the Autobots half-heartedly trying to keep him relatively still.

"Idiot. Did he really think we wouldn't follow?" Thundercracker mutters, not entirely sotto-voiced, giving his wing leader (always and forever, his wing leader) a darkling glare. A smug smile creeps back on his expression though, at the stunned look of the flier looking down at him.

The light dawning in Starscream's optics is something the Autobots know very well - it's just not something they ever through they'd see in that particular mech's expression, even as insults start flying between all three jets, one with new Autobot symbols etched on his wings, the other two with marred purples splotches fading away from the acids hastily used to remove them.


	13. Seekers, Strangers Like Me

**Everlife, Strangers like me  
**Sideswipe, Sunstreaker - G1

The twins lounge in the distance, watching the new additions to their ranks float in unison high up in the skies above. Every now and then, the three separate, whirling down in mad, suicidal charges for the ground before pulling up gleefully to reunite, sometimes flying so close they briefly appear to be one larger plane, rather than three individual units.

"You know..." Sideswipe pauses, giving his twin a contemplative look. They were the most vocal in protesting the integration of three Decepticons (former Decepticons, he amends still only to himself) to their ranks. But now that all is said and done... he thinks of the _possibilities_.

"Yeah." Sunstreaker grins slowly, a shark-like expression of beatific happiness reflected in his optics. "This is gonna be _fun_."

While the previous Autobot fliers have always consistently refused to have anything to do with the twins' combat tactics, both are more than certain they'll be able to talk the three above into helping them out.

Jet Judo has just acquired a whole new dimension.


	14. Seekers, Shut Up And Drive

**Rihanna, Shut up and Drive  
**Starscream, Skywarp, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe - G1

Starscream cannot help but feel a deep glow of satisfaction at the dual cries resonating around them - one of sheer, unadulterated glee, the other of stunned and somewhat petrified shock. With another wild whoop of entirely insane merriment, Skywarp fully breaks formation, thrusters nearly glowing as he peels off towards a trio of thoroughly confused Decepticon fliers, Dirge the only one catching on fast enough to start listing to one side in pure horror.

"Hey guys! Guys! I got something for ya!" Skywarp carols out cheerfully, teleporting a few times to close the distance all the faster while ignoring anything his passenger may have to say about the method of delivery being used. The yellow shape riding the manically cackling, spinning jet howls once more, something which sounds suspiciously like "OH PRIMUS WE'RE GONNA DIE!" and Starscream does hope Skywarp is recording all this as promised.

The red twin affixed to HIS wings is peering down at him with a suspicious frown, clearly unsatisfied with his own ride's lazy pace, internal communications system having blocked out his brother's howled death threats a few moments earlier.

"We're not letting them get there _first_ are we?" Sideswipe seriously wonders what he was thinking not laying first dibs on the one that could _teleport_ of all things. How stupid could he get?

"Aaah. Faster, mmm?" The undertones to Starscream's voice leave no room for mistake and Sideswipe's optics pop wide open at the loud rumbling that goes through the aircraft's frame. "I'll show you _fast_, you cretinous clod!" Thundering off in pursuit of Skywarp at his highest speeds, Starscream cackles madly and indulges in plotting a course meant to show exactly why he was promoted to Air Commander in the first place. It wouldn't do to let Skywarp outdo him, after all.

"Eeep!"

Revenge, thinks Starscream as the red twin clamps on for dear life, is such sweet fun.


	15. Hide & Seek

**Imogen Heap, Hide & Seek  
**Megatron - G1

He sometimes stops to stare at the horizon, wondering where it all went wrong. He remembers the days of glory, the years, decades and centuries where he fought for what he believed in, for a better tomorrow for all of his followers. For Cybertron. For all that was right and fair.

What was once a quest, a crusade to set things right has now turned into a petty scrabble for survival, days bleeding into each other until they're as featureless as the dirt of the mudball planet he's stranded upon.

Sometimes, Megatron stops to stare at the horizon and wonder where it all went wrong. Then he turns around and orders the next attack to be launched, the next plan to be set into motion and he rages, against the ashes of his dreams and hopes, unable to let go even as they slip through his fingers into the dying of the light.


	16. Seekers, What I've Done

**What I've Done, Linkin Park  
**Seekers: Starscream, Jazz, Prowl - G1

The words are still resonating in Starscream's audios as he tilts to the side slowly, trying to run them through is processor in a proper way only it's not working so well. So, they repeating themselves in a funny little loop right up until he crashes into the ravine's façade with an undignified squawk of surprise.

"Well done!" Optimus Prime's voice had been approving and frighteningly, uncomprehendingly _warm_ as he spoke the words. And he'd been congratulating him. Starscream. On... a job well done? He and his trine had only dumped the idiot twins on their former compatriots, then run the Constructicons ragged while not letting them even come close to getting a clear shot on them. And maybe had inadvertently kept Soundwave from nailing that slow moving turtle also known as Ironhide with a particularly devastating new weapon or other Megatron was trying out today.

Still. ...they hadn't done anything spectacular, had they? It was just fighting.

After pausing blankly at that though, Starscream automatically begins the process of prying himself out of his impromptu landing pad, wincing as dust and pebbles rain down on him. He'd not been in his alt mode for the sudden landing, thankfully, which means that as embarrassing as the whole thing is, he'll hopefully manage to extract himself and return to the field of battle without being witnessed. With a little luck. And a lot of thrusters to help out.

The flash and click from above even as he pops out of the ledge absolutely ruin his aspirations for stealthness.

"YOU."

Starscream glares ahead and wishes luck were nearby so he could shoot it. Lots. Instead, Jazz blinks down at him from behind some sort of device (which is NOT the equivalent to a human camera, because if it was Starscream is going to have to SHOOT his erstwhile ally and this would do bad bad things to his trial status with the Autobots) and then smiles endearingly. And tacks on an innocent, "who me?" expression to the smile.

It's a camera. (Off in a corner, luck laughs itself silly while making funny faces at the poor, camera ambushed jet.)

"I hate you," the jet mutters viciously, reaching down to try and pry out pebbles from his plating half-heartedly before simply giving up and setting his thrusters to vibrate enough to shake the whole mess of dirt right off. It's not fair and Jazz _knows_ it. It's not like Starscream can even afford to try and shoot the camera, as it is, never mind the never-ending pest that the saboteur himself is. It's _cheating_, is what it is, and Starscream would protest about it loudly and vehemently if he didn't already know (from experience) it'd only get him laughed at (more).

A hand pops out over Jazz's shoulder and confiscates the camera, drawing a yelp of protest from the saboteur. A stern look ends any further complaints and with renewed cheer, Jazz scrambles off to head back into battle, pausing only to give the jet a jaunty little salute on his way out. Next time, he's saying. Starscream has no doubt there.

Starscream stares upwards at the departing mech, then at the unexpected savior of his dignity. Prowl stares downward pensively at one of the three newest Autobots - all of whom he is still greatly unsure what exactly to do with.

"Well done," he settles for, echoing Prime's earlier words.

And doesn't laugh, nor take pictures, when the jet's thrusters fail from sheer shock, sending the former Decepticon tumbling down several feet before they kick back in and he transforms, sleek shape hurtling upwards and away towards the sound of battle with a howl of aggravation.

"What is _wrong_ with you people?! You are all so VEXING!" The spluttered cry is audible even with the distance Starscream is putting between them, which is impressive to say the least.

Prowl tilts his head to the side, analyzing patterns and speed - and allows himself a small, appreciative smile at the display of skill and ability the red and blue displays while diving back into the fight. After a moment he then heads back in himself, keeping track of everyone's movement on the field, adjusting Bluestreak's targeting vectors slightly to ensure a seemingly suicidal Sunstreaker is adequately covered as he charges into the heart of everything, as usual.

This, he thinks, just might all work out, after all. Someone though, is going to have to teach Starscream to accept a compliment with a bit more composure, really.

Circling high above, Thundercracker hums to himself and stores away the very best of the pictures. One day he'll bring them out and share them with his trine. That day will be a good day, an even better one, for all of them. He looks forward to it, and many more besides.


	17. Seekers, Caribbean Blue

**Enya, Caribbean Blue  
**Skywarp, G1

Skywarp knows it's the little things, really. Not having to listen and be wary before turning a corner. Not having to brace himself for the digs, the cruel remarks, not having to constantly watch everything he says (something which he fails at miserably), not having to ready his wings for the sudden attacks, for the slams and not so small pains... not having to watch Starscream get beaten up by Megatron in their place, yet again. The small pranks he could get away with seem like nothing now next to the grandiose plans he and Sideswipe have been working out with feverish delight. The next fireworks will be spectacular too, and he can't wait to see the looks on all of the Autobots' faces too when they see exactly what pattern they sketch out in the air. It took time to talk Sideswipe into that particular prank, mostly because it wasn't about immediate (or near immediate) satisfaction, but the Lamborghini, as it turns out, can appreciate the long time payoff just as well as he can. The Lamborghini, as it turns out, is a lost comrade in pranking-arms and they have such wonderful, flamboyant plans now, they do.

They're acting out, all three of them, he knows, each in their own way and he's the worse of them. But he can't _help_ it. He's got millennia of stored up nervous energy and finally he can just let it _all _go at once if he wants to and not worry about getting his trinemate killed in the process. Starscream doesn't _have_ to step in to protect him, because whatever Skywarp attracts as punishment is... fair. It's gotten to a point where Starscream can hold the reflex to step in enough in check that he doesn't give himself away (too much, maybe) anymore even. Thundercracker's even started laughing now, whenever he'd spotted the signs ahead of time, mocking the others for not figuring out what was going to happen.

And every now and then Skywarp needs to get _away _ from it all, because it becomes overwhelming and it scares him badly enough that he can only go in a straight line, panicking until exhaustion catches up and he can turn around to start heading back. He doesn't dare yet say "home" but he's thought it and that scares him too, just as badly. Because he could lose all this. And he doesn't think he could bear it.

Maybe, he thinks, skimming lower to play with the waves, the little things weren't so little after all.

Skywarp absently starts weaving through the waves in a directionless pattern, slowing down to speeds only a Cybertronian could achieve while trying not to think at all for once, and just to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the sound of the sea instead. Starscream is going to have fits about the brine which will have dried out on his wings by the time he gets back to base and Thundercracker is likely to go on and on (again) about how unsafe it is still for them to just wander off so soon after having defected. None of them will say, just yet, that wandering off ever won't be safe for them, considering what they did.

There is a flicker in the water behind him, the splash of waves tangling in his sensors lightly and Skywarp lazily turns around in a circular pattern to investigate, curious. Because it's okay to be curious now, and over all, this is an entirely new and novel sensation. It wasn't before, but it's been so long he'd forgotten what it was like, really.

The surge of water and the form streaking over his right wing as he does another impossibly slow flyby nearly causes him to spark-seize on the spot, and it's only because he was being so lazy in the first place that doesn't tumble nose over aft in the water. It takes him a mile or so to steady out and review his logs, and what he finds sends him peeling back to the general spot, carefully slowing down once he gets back there to redo the same, careful pattern. His reward this time takes the form of two hurtling shapes, leaping out of the water with cheerful clicks and squeals, dancing over his wings in near perfect harmony. Skywarp repeats the pattern in a bedazzled daze, noting that the coloring and markings of the creatures are changing slightly now and then, but that mostly he seems to have acquired about five new friends.

The sun is high and bright and the breeze is gentle. Skywarp skims the waves and angles his wings just a tad bit, just so, and forgets about everything else as he dances with the dolphins.

--

"He's doing fine, Starscream," Silverbolt repeats reassuringly over the comm, adding in live data so that the red and blue can see exactly what his trinemate is up to. He doesn't tell Starscream about how he nearly fell right out of the sky the first time one of the dolphins took a leap over Skywarp's wing, nearly giving himself away as he patrolled high in the sky (way too high) along with Fireflight ("Shiny! Aw, I wanna go play too!") and Slingshot ("Huh. Betcha I can do better!").

The dolphins started up a dazzlingly rapid, circular pattern a little while after Skywarp started flying over them, the Aerialbots had noticed, with a speed that was almost dizzying even for them to watch. But none of them ever expected the creatures to do what they did, nor for Skywarp to start adjusting his speed at a pace that had to be nearly painful for the jet down below to keep, in order to ensure the dolphins not come to harm.

"Hey, 'bolt?" Fireflight's voice is bubbling with delight as they patrol high up above. He hasn't tried to change his altitude in any way despite his request, as though he can tell that as shiny as it is, this isn't something he should interrupt. "Can I take the next 'warp watch too? This is fun!" And though Skydive says nothing, he suspects that the protective role he assigned his team to has suddenly taken on new color for the others, and maybe it won't be so hard anymore now to talk them into keeping an eye out for the absent-minded Skywarp, each time he forgets about the security restrictions and wanders off on his own.


	18. Seekers, Here Comes the Flood

**Peter Gabriel, Here Comes the Flood  
**Seekers, Red Alert - G1

"You're being stupid," Skywarp interrupts flatly, not even waiting for a pause in the ranting, which has been ongoing for the better part of an hour now. The words float underneath Starscream's continued vituperation for a moment, until the red and blue falters then falls into silence, uncertain if he's heard correctly. Thundercracker just ducks his head, the mulish glare Skywarp is giving their trinemate more than enough for him to know that this particular argument is one Starscream is doomed to lose as of now. Skywarp has _that_ look. The one which means not even Megatron descending from the heavens to blast him to smithereens will change his stance on the matter.

"What?" Their wing commander's eloquence seems to have taken something of a dive, and there is a gleeful giggle in the back of Thundercracker's processors at the expression on his face. He'll do anything, really, for his trinemates - each would for the other, and this is the foundation they've built everything else on. But that doesn't mean he can't enjoy seeing them taken down a peg or two, whenever they've worked towards it and in this instance the jet has to agree with Skywarp. This is something that's been coming since their arrival here, really.

"You heard me right. You're being stupid. He's not any more suspicious of us than he is of any other Autobot." This still feels weird to say at times, but not now and Skywarp doesn't even register the words he's just spoken as he goes on, pinning Starscream with narrow-eyed glare. He's focusing on something more _important_ now and that means all the details that matter are about that something, really. "He's just doing his job - he's trying to keep us safe. That's all." The black and purple's tone is oddly muted, his wings drawn tightly against himself in the clear sign that he's ready to go to battle over this one, no backing down, no compromises. He then rushes on before Starscream can even considering winding himself up for another rant, charging in where most would flee without a look over their shoulders. "I think he hates that no one gets why he's so obsessed about all those little details of his, I think he only wants to try and make sure no one ever gets hurt and I think he wishes once, just once, people would realize what he's about instead of just bitching 'bout him all the time."

Still staring, mouth open but nothing coming out, Starscream stares bemusedly as Skywarp straightens up suddenly and scowls. "And I think I'm going to do something about it. So there." With that, the teleporter stalks out of their shared quarters, a mech with a mission. All that's missing are the blinking neon lights over his head, Thundercracker reflects to himself, letting the mental image amuse him briefly before he focuses on Starscream, still standing stock-still in the room, one hand raised and a single index pointed upward in a point still not made.

"..."

"I think Skywarp's starting to settle in nicely here, really," Thundercracker opines from his berth, offering the still flummoxed Starscream a small, fond smile. "Don't you?"

"...huh. Looks like."

--

Amongst the afternoon's shenanigans, foremost was that of Ratchet chasing Skywarp across the base, threatening bloody blue murder upon the cackling flier while both trampled any unfortunate witness unwary enough to stray in their path. All agreed that Skywarp showed a singular lack of worry for his well-being in so taunting the medic, as caroling "You know you want some!" back at an enraged Ratchet was _not_ something any mech with even a smidgen of a survival instinct would consider doing, really. Sideswipe, on the other hand, was suitably impressed and cheered Skywarp on, but no one considered Sideswipe to be particularly possessed of any survival instinct to start with anyway...

Only First Aid was present in the medlab in time to bear witness to the small, bemused smile etched on Red Alert's face when he woke up from a Skywarp-induced processor crash, later on.


	19. Prompts, Lennox

**Prompts - Desert, Gun, Dog Tags  
**Lennox - Movieverse

He listened to the creak of shoulder straps and gear and then to the sound of metal grating fretfully against metal.

"For having been here so long," he grumbled, "you're damned impatient, you know that?"

One of the men behind him, far up the slope and out of reach, swore quietly and Lennox fancied he could practically hear the man's grip tighten on his weapon. Guns twitched spasmodically though never – ever – pointed his way as he dangled his dog tags enticingly, the harsh desert sunlight reflecting on the metal too brightly, sending dots of light dancing crazily all around him.

Scorponok lunged from the sand, arcing high up over the soldier, sand spraying the entire nook of shade by the dune he'd claimed for himself months ago. Light danced and the drone danced after it, enjoying the newfound game and the human company he was free to seek out now that Blackout was dead.


	20. Octane, Days Long Past

Set in the future of the _With All Thy Mercies_ 'verse by ajremix.

* * *

**Days Long Past  
**_"His years with others must the sweeter be,  
For those brief days he spent in loving me."  
_ - George Eliot

_A long time from now..._

It's been forever and more and yet he finds himself standing here, the newly-signed peace treaty still so fresh and recent that the glares sent his way feel like nothing more than the usual routine.

He remembers fingertips pressing to his wing, trying to offer sympathy and understanding and care to someone to whom nothing was owed and takes a step forward and then another. It is a memory that has been sustaining him for far longer than he'd ever realized, a memory that drives him on now in what is no longer enemy territory, through looks and whispers that no longer carry the weight they once did.

He remembers the first one who steps in his path, the arrogant tilt to voice and manner still present though muted somehow. He's expected he knows and after a moment and with a great deal of reluctance, the path is clear once more. The group's leader limps up to him and nods slowly, then leads him deeper within the compound until they reach a door, barred tight to block out the outside world.

"He's in there. Hasn't been out since... yeah."

He stares at the door for a while, until the leader steps back and limps away, drawing the others who had gathered away with him, their protests brushed away with a single, tired gesture. In the silence of the hallway he stares at the door until he loses track of time. The words won't come and he doesn't know what to say and with a resigned creaking of joints and weary servos, he slowly leans forward until his forehead is resting on the cool surface.

"He was happy with you."

The words hang there for the longest time and there is no answer, no motion in reply from the other side of the door. It feels as though time is standing still and he isn't sure coming here, blundering his way through this is anything either of them can handle.

"I'd never see him as happy as when he was with you."

But there was nothing else he could do - it was the least he could do - and so he continues, regardless of anything else. There is no one waiting for him, and no other place to go. Here seems as fine a place as any to stay, as long as it takes.

"Thank you."

It isn't until the door opens and the red and white lunges for him, engine keening high and desperate while he clings to the triplechanger, that Octane realizes he let go of his own grief long ago.


	21. Twins, Cold Rainy Night

_From the drabble request post on my LJ, written for okami_hu._

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**It was a cold, rainy night...  
**G1 - Sunstreaker and Sideswipe

It was raining and raining and raining some more, there was no END to the mud they had to crawl through in order to get whenever the slag is was there were going, the forest they were stuck in kept making the weirdest and creepiest of noises and they couldn't even transforms in the damn place without risking tree branches in really unpleasant places... and even Sideswipe would have to admit that he was right about how miserable this little mud ball planet from the PIT could be. And that this was all his fault to start with for _volunteering_ them for this delivery drive thing.

"I hate this planet."

"I - yeah. Right now, I do too." Sideswipe's reply was unusually meek and it only irked Sunstreaker to greater heights of irkdom. That meant he really couldn't continue with his original intention to declare his undying hatred for his twin, as well.

"What, no telling me to relax, to just try to enjoy myself?" His voice was edged and sharp he knew it and everything about him spoiled for a fight, for a chance to do anything but slog through rain and mud and oh, look, lightning too. And the last person he wanted to get into a fight with right now was his twin but there was _no one else _to get in a fight with and if he didn't bitch about the situation, he'd self-implode. Any moment now. Boom. Bits of Sunstreaker all over the fraggin' forest.

Lightning zig-zagged through the sky and landed with a spectacular boom and a tree crashed in their path, causing both Lamborghinis to swerve and nearly crash into each other and they slipped and slid and did their best to avoid the massive obstacle which had so suddenly blocked their path. Silence reigned for a long time once they stopped skidding, nestled against each other in the gloom, sides dented and scratched and rain still pattering down on them mercilessly.

"Slag it. Sunny, you okay?"

"That's it. I've had it. No moving anymore. They can just come get our cold corpses after the storm is done."

His voice had lost its earlier edge, fading into despondence instead and Sunstreaker could practically feel the surge of worry from the red Lamborghini next to him.

"Sunny, look-"

"Just shut up," was the tired response. "Don't call me that. Don't talk to me, don't look at me, just let me die in pea-"

"Oh _wow_!"

Both twins fell silent, scanners snapping on until they had located the owner of the voice.

"Oh great." Sunstreaker hunkered down lower (though there wasn't much room left to hunker down considering how much mud he was mired in) and tried to pretend the human child wasn't there, wasn't ogling him like every other human did. Particularly in the condition he was in. He didn't want to be ogled right now (particularly not now) and in fact, just wanted to be left the slag alone. To die.

"You guys are Autobots, aren't you? We heard some of you might be passing through and Grandma was worried the roads might be bad and - wow! You're really Autobots!"

Humans had Bluestreaks too, was Sunstreaker's numb realization. He had died sometime earlier without noticing and was now in the Pit. That was the only possible explanation.

"...yeah."

"COOL!"

"Michael! What are you do- oh dear..." Another human had appeared it seemed (ah, that was what his scanner had been bugging him about) and the older female peered through the layers of her rain gear and over the trunk of the fallen tree at them with a stunned expression, holding aloft a storm lantern to illuminate their battered forms.

"Hi. Stuck. Kill me now?" Sunstreaker hadn't meant to sound so dejected that his twin would lean against him gently once more, but he just couldn't help it anymore. Maybe the older human would show him some mercy. Humans were supposed to have tons of that, right? Bright blue eyes peered at him through the rain, kind and warm and all sorts of things that were usually never meant for him at all.

"...you poor dear, you sound absolutely exhausted. Michael, go get your father. Tell him to get the others from the village and everything they need to clear the road now. Also tell him we have guests. And have the old barn aired out, neatened up and most of all, heated."

"YEAH!" A sharp look greeted the exclamation of glee and the boy grew serious instantly. "I mean, got it Grandma! Going now!"

It was cold and silent for a while and Sunstreaker retreated into his despondent musings once more, ignoring both his twin's cautious pings for attention and his scanner alerting him to motion nearby. A spot of sudden, bright warmth drew him out of his gloom and Sunstreaker shifted slightly, confused. A hand had settled on a bright yellow and still pristine area of his hood and though normally Sunstreaker would have complained about stains and whatever else squishies left behind, the woman's hand was warm (nearly as warm as her voice as she spoke nonsensical, reassuring words) and moving in oddly soothing circles - gentle, so very gentle - against him and if he could have, Sunstreaker would have wrapped himself around the small squishie for the heat alone.

"There, there now. We'll get you two out of here and sorted out in no time, just you wait, love..."

Though he was aware of how very carefully silent Sideswipe was still being once more, and how every single iota of his twin's attention was turned towards him to gauge his response, Sunstreaker merely sagged on his shocks in relief at the realization that someone was just going to take _care_ of him. (And his slagging brother who had gotten them into this in the first place.)

"Yes, please."

And if Sideswipe was recording the whole thing, he'd just kill him later. Much later. When it was warm again.


	22. It does what?

_From the drabble request post on my LJ, written for ajremix._

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**It does what? **

"Huh."

"I've never seen anything like this before."

"Yeah, me neither. Wonder what it does?"

The murmurs go back and forth. Ignoring everyone Jazz leans forward a touch, until his nose is almost pressed to the smooth surface of the panel of the whatsis in the rec room. He tilts his head to the side, and represses the urge to elbow Tracks back as the mech unabashedly ogles himself in the reflective surface. The twins jostle each other for space and Bumblebee can be heard muttering something about great giant clods as he tries to wiggle closer through the crowd gathering around the rec room's latest ornament.

There is a sudden, low pop and the mech clustered about the contraption find themselves suddenly all hogtied and roped to each other, forming a neat little pile of trapped "let me take you to my medlab, bwahahaha!" victims.

Ratchet smiles cheerfully and waggles his fingers at Wheeljack and Perceptor as they vanish into the hallway with gleeful yelps (both scientists summarily left off the hook for any explosion which may occur for the entirety of a month) before advancing on the latest batch of mech who had been attempting to avoid their scheduled physicals.

Whistling merrily the medic selects his first, still stunned at the sudden turn of events victim, thoroughly approving of the last second addition of a gag to the device's capture mechanism.


	23. Best Laid Plans

_From the drabble request post on my LJ, written for kinrazza._

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**  
Best Laid Plans  
**Megatron, Optimus Prime - Movieverse

_"We welcome a grandiose age of prosperity and wealth for our brethren, today. Can you not feel it, brother?"_

_The Lord High Protector turned and smiled at his sib - twice over, by creation and by choice - sharp claws and razor-etched smile somehow softened by the expression lurking merrily in his red-hued optics._

_"What I feel right now is dread at the amount of paperwork which comes with this fancy new title I seem to have ended up with."_

_The new Prime shook his head, giving his closed office door a side-long look of mock-fear. Megatron stilled at his words then chuckled, the sound deep and throaty, resonating through his body in a merry rumble._

_"Me to protect the present, and you to plan for the future, brother," was his joyful reply as he took one step back, then another. "Together, we are unstoppable. Nothing can stand in our way!" He made his escape by dint of simply hopping out the window, transforming with liquid grace to his flight mode. His laughter vibrated through his frame once more as he sped away, wanting nothing to do with anything resembling paperwork or administrative duties, the laughter of his brother Prime following him high in the skies of Cybertron._

~*~

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley..."

Recognition flared briefly in the fading red optics and as his brother died, Optimus recognized the faint tremor which drifted through his frame. He did not expect the faint transmission over a channel long kept silent.

#And leave us nought but grief and pain, for promis'd joy...#

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_* From the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns._


	24. Local Customs

_From the drabble request post on my LJ, written for eerian_shadow._

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**Local Customs  
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"I hate him."

The two mech glared at their companion, the way he crouched down and settled into a pose that was just wrong by every Cybertronian standard (even the perverted ones, thank you very much) making their joints ache in sympathy. Not that they wanted to be sympathetic.

"He's just not right. It's like he lives on every single most obscure and WEIRD local custom he can find each time we hit a new spot!"

"And then has to inflict it on us after."

"...yeah. Bastard."

The bot in question, unaware he was being observed even as he spied on the odd squishies performing an even odder ritual than anything he'd seen before shifted (drawing more winces from his observers) and then suddenly hopped up, squeaking in excitement. With a cheerful grin he hopped back to his companions, waving his arms cheerfully.

"Guys! Guys! I figured it out! You have to-"

"Oh Primus. Not again."

"Let's go. We're going to be late."

"Aw, guys! You're no fun at all. All we have to do is-"

"SHUT UP, SKYWARP!"

Unfortunately for Starscream and Thundercracker, being shouted down by _both_ his trinemates was only enough to keep him quiet for all of ten seconds.


	25. Proper Accomodations

**Proper Accommodations**

"Look, Starscre-"

"The accommodations you've provided me with are unacceptable." The clipped, snapped out words drew a grown of dismay from Jazz, processors already coiling up in terror at the thought of having to go through what was coming. Again. "Since the last time I've been here, one would think you'd have taken a moment to arrange for something better." With a huff the Seeker rose to stand in the middle of the cell, gifting those on the other side of the bars with a darkling look.

Standing in the back of the room Bluestreak stared at the scene in confusion, forgetting all about long questions and convoluted syntax. "...does this always happen whenever we capture Starscream?"

"He says Jazz started it first." Prowl paused briefly, listening in a bit more on the conversation from where he was standing. Jazz was sounding more and more harried with each passing moment.

"-I can't believe you lot believe these sorts of bunks are even near to being comfortable for someone with my frame-"

"He's right, those are horrible, you just can't fit your wings right on 'em," Fireflight interjected into the diatribe, giving the enemy Seeker a sympathetic look while shuddering at the sight of the recharge berth in the cell. This earned him a briefly brilliant smile from Starscream and a whimper of agony from Jazz.

"See, even your own agree! Beyond that, there's hardly any room to move in here and you could at least include some sort of viewport that would allow a flier to see the sky, and-"

A few more mech wandered in, drawn by the sound of Starscream's strident voice. "Technically speaking, Starscream would be right actually. Jazz was caught first of the two of them, since we've woken up here."

"- furthermore, the temperature settings are entirely unfit for a Seeker with my atmospheric sensor array specifications - which you should know I might add as we've been over this before - and I won't even go into how-"

"Shoot me now," Jazz whimpered, helm coming to rest with periodic thumps on the wall next to Starscream's cell.

"I would," Starscream replied kindly, "but they took away my null rays."

The ensuing silence was broken by Sunstreaker's sudden giggle, earning him a murderous glare from the hen-pecked saboteur.

"Sorry. "

It was having an audience that made it all so much fun, was what it all came down to. Starscream had learned that from Jazz, the very first time the saboteur had pulled the stunt on him.

He also liked to think he'd learned from the best, there.

Starscream cackled appreciatively, took a deep breath, and resumed tormenting Jazz for all he was worth.


End file.
